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Johann Sebastian Bach (21 March 1685 O.S. or 31 mars N.S. – 28 July 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity.

François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 (birth time source: Astrodatabank, Penfield Collection quotes Matthews for "Gemini Asc." Brittanica gives the same date "according to his birth certificate, though he kept the date secret and stated several times that it was February 20, 1694.

Benjamin Franklin (January 17 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the most critical Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a leading author, political theorist, politician, printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist, environmentalist, and diplomat. As a scientist he was a major figure in the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity.

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (March 4, 1678 – July 27 or 28, 1741), nicknamed Il Prete Rosso ("The Red Priest"), was a Venetian priest and baroque music composer, as well as a famous violinist. The Four Seasons, a series of four violin concertos, are his best known works and highly popular Baroque music pieces.

George Frideric Handel (Friday 23 February 1685 (5 March New Style) – Saturday 14 April 1759) was a German-born British Baroque composer who was a leading composer of concerti grossi, operas and oratorios. Born in Germany as Georg Friederich Händel (IPA: ), he dwelt during most of his adult life in England, becoming a subject of the British crown on 22 January 1727.

Peter the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov (Russian: Пётр I Алексеевич Pyotr I Alekséyevich) (9 June 1672 (30 May Julian calendar) (birth time source: Astrodatabank)–8 February 1725 ) ruled Russia from 7 May (27 April O.S.) 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his weak and sickly half-brother, Ivan V.

Emanuel Swedenborg (help·info) (born Emanuel Swedberg; January 29, 1688 – March 29, 1772) was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, Christian mystic, and theologian. Swedenborg had a prolific career as an inventor and scientist. At the age of fifty-six he entered into a spiritual phase, in which he experienced dreams and visions.

Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (before January 18, 1689 in Bordeaux – February 10, 1755), more commonly known as Montesquieu, was a French social commentator and political thinker who lived during the Enlightenment. He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, taken for granted in modern discussions of government and implemented in many constitutions throughout the world.

Jonathan Swift (November 30, 1667, Julian calendar (December 10, 1667, Gregorian calendar)(birth time source: Penfield Collection, Edward Lyndoe, Astrodatabank) – October 19, 1745) was an Irish cleric, Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for Whigs then for Tories), and poet, famous for works like Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, The Drapier's Letters, The Battle of the Books, and A Tale of a Tub.

Anne (6 February 1665 Julian calendar (16 February Gregorian calendar)) (birth time source: Astrodatabank, BC) – 1 August 1714) became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702, succeeding William III. Her Roman Catholic father, James II and VII, was forcibly deposed in 1688; her brother-in-law and her sister then became joint monarchs as William III and Mary II, the only such case in British history.

Carl Linnaeus, Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné (help·info), (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of nomenclature. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy.

Farinelli (January 24, 1705 – September 16, 1782), was the stage name of Carlo Maria Broschi, one of the most famous Italian soprano castrato singers of the 18th century.
Early years
Broschi was born in Andria (now in the Italian region of Apulia) into a family of musicians.

Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (October 26, 1685 – July 23, 1757) was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in Spain and Portugal. He was extremely influential in the development of the Classical period in music through his individual style, though he lived mostly during the Baroque era.

Samuel Johnson (September 18 (7 Old Style) 1709 (birth time source: Astrodatabank) – 13 December 1784), often referred to simply as Dr Johnson, is one of England's best known literary figures: an essayist, biographer, poet, lexicographer and a critic of English Literature.

Daniel Defoe (1659/1661 – April 24 , 1731) was an British writer, journalist, and spy, who gained enduring fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest practitioners of the novel and helped popularize the genre in Britain.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist (1090–August 21, 1153) was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian monastic order. "The voice of conscience, the dominating figure in the Catholic Church from 1125 to 1153", his authority helped to end the schism of 1130.

Philippe d'Orléans (Philippe Charles; 2 August 1674 (birth time source: book of Jean-Chriistian Petitfils, email) – 2 December 1723) was a member of the royal family of France and served as Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth under the title of Duke of Chartres.

Jean-Antoine Watteau (October 10, 1684 – July 18, 1721) was a French painter whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement (in the tradition of Correggio and Rubens), and revitalized the waning Baroque idiom, which eventually became known as Rococo.

Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, also referred to as Bernard le Bouyer de Fontenelle (11 February 1657 – 9 January 1757) was a French author.
Fontenelle was born in Rouen, France (then the capital of Normandy). He died in Paris, having very nearly attained the age of 100 years.

Charles XII (Swedish: Karl XII, Latinized to Carolus Rex "King Charles", Turkish Demirbaş Şarl "Charles the Habitué") (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718), was King of Sweden from 1697 until his death. He was the only surviving son of King Charles XI of Sweden and Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark.

Leonhard Euler (German pronunciation: , About this sound Swiss German pronunciation (help·info), About this sound Standard German pronunciation (help·info), English approximation, "Oiler"; 15 April 1707 (birth time source: rectified by Starkman, Astrodatabank) – 18 September 1783) was a pioneering Swiss mathematician and physicist.

Prince James, Prince of Wales (James Francis Edward Stuart; "The Old Pretender" or "The Old Chevalier"; 10 June 1688 – 1 January 1766) was the son of the deposed James II and VII. As such, he claimed the English, Scottish and Irish thrones (as James III and VIII) from the death of his father in 1701, when he was proclaimed king of England, Scotland and Ireland by his cousin Louis XIV of France.

Mary of Modena (Mary Beatrice Eleanor Anne Margaret Isabel; born Este; later Queen Mary of England, Scotland and Ireland; 5 October 1658 – 7 May 1718) was queen consort to James II of England.
Early life
She was a daughter of Alfonso IV, Duke of Modena and his wife, the former Laura Martinozzi.

Alexei Petrovich Romanov (Russian: Алексей Петрович) (28 February 1690 – 7 July 1718), was a Russian Tsarevich. He was born in Moscow, the son of Tsar Peter I and his first wife Eudoxia Lopukhina.
Childhood
The young Alexei was brought up by his mother, who fostered an atmosphere of disdain towards Peter the Great, Alexei's father.

John Wesley (IPA: ) (June 28 (New Style, or 17 Old Style) 1703 – March 2, 1791) was an Anglican minister and Christian theologian who was an early leader in the Methodist movement. Methodism had three rises: the first at Oxford University with the founding of the so-called "Holy Club"; the second while Wesley was parish priest in Savannah, Georgia; and the third in London after Wesley's return to England.

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham PC (15 November 1708 – 11 May 1778) was a British Whig statesman who achieved his greatest fame as Secretary of State during the Seven Years' War, as known in Great Britain and Canada (known as the French and Indian War in the U.

Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon (January 16, 1675 (birth time source: Astrodatabank) – March 2, 1755), French soldier, diplomatist and writer of memoirs, was born at Versailles. The dukedom-peerage granted to his father, Claude de Saint-Simon (1608-1693), is a central fact in his history.

Prince William of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Gloucester (24 July 1689 – 29 July 1700) was the only child of Princess Anne of Denmark and Norway (later Queen of Great Britain) to survive infancy. His father was Prince George of Denmark and Norway.

Charles de Bourbon, Count of Charolais (19 June, 1700 – 23 July, 1760) was a French noble. As a member of the reigni prince of the Blood.
A son of Louis III, Prince of Condé, he was made governor of Touraine in 1720.

George II (George Augustus; 10 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.
He was the last British monarch to have been born outside Great Britain, and was famous for his numerous conflicts with his father and, subsequently, with his son.

Louis Auguste de Bourbon, Legitimé de France (Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 31 March 1670 – Sceaux, 14 May 1736) was the eldest legitimised son of the Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre, Madame de Montespan. He was given the title Duke of Maine.